New Years Resolution
by DVApples
Summary: Booth/Brennan - Rated M for violence - Booth talks Brennan into celebrating New Years Eve with him. Add a gunman and it will be a New Years to remember.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N - Felt like a little bit of angst, this one came into my head on a whim. I am working on another chapter to 'shackles', I just needed to get this one out - although it looks like it might be a multiple chapter. Thanks to Stef and Marie for looking this over for me 3**

**Hope you enjoy this. Let me know what you think - I can handle good and bad :)**

**I don't own Bones, just love them!**

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She just didn't understand why people felt the need to wake up with a hangover after a long night of drinking and partying on New Years Eve. She could think of much better ways to spend bringing in a new year.

Like working.

Looking at the clock she realized the Jeffersonian would officially be closed for the weekend in an hour.

She looked around at the others in the lab, watching them all fast track their work to ensure they were out of the Jeffersonian in time to attend their New Years Eve parties.

No distracting music was coming from Angela's Office; it was silent, save for the clicking on the keyboard.

Shouts between Hodgins and Wendell over 'King of the Lab', had not been heard all day. Both had their heads in their work, though she did notice the odd look pass between them. She dismissed it – it wasn't pertinent.

Walking back to her Office she glanced in at Cam, entering results into her computer, not arguing on the telephone with Michelle over her latest teenage rebellion.

Stopping just inside her office door, she glanced at the pig ornament on her desk. She hadn't seen Booth in over a week. It was very unusual for him. He had rang and told her he was working on a special case and would call her when it was over.

Although she knew that feelings and emotions were ephemeral, deep down she really wanted to hear his voice. To assure herself that he was okay.

Shaking off the irrational thoughts, she sat down at her desk and, turning so the pig was not in her peripheral vision, set about typing up her notes for court next week.

"Bye Dr B…. Bye Dr. Brennan…. Bye Dr Brennan…." came the various shouts a while later. She raised her arm subconsciously, her mind engrossed on getting her work done.

She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking up she saw Angela's face and sighed. _Here it comes_, she thought, _the whole 'you can't work, come party with me' lecture. _

She froze - speechless - as Angela leaned over, gave her a hug, then walked out the door with a "See you later, Sweetie." Shaking her head, she went back to her computer.

Hitting the delete button on her keyboard, she jumped again when a hand was placed on her shoulder.

"Ange--- " she froze mid-sentence when it was not Ange's face looking at her.

"Booth!"

She swept her eyes over his face, taking in the cut on the left cheek, the faint tissue bruising still evident on his cheek - fairly minor compared to the normal injuries they get.

Booth reached down and lifted his Bones up and brought her to him in a crushing hug.

"Booth…Hey!" Brennan could hardly breathe, but she didn't want Booth to let go. While he couldn't see her face, she closed her eyes. Breathing in deeply she felt herself relax – only realizing how tense she had been since he left.

Not liking the path of her thoughts, she abruptly pulled back from Booth. She stood there watching him, hoping he hadn't noticed her pre-occupation.

"Well Bones, time to go!" Booth declared, rounding her desk to walk over and pick up her bag and coat from the coffee table on the other side of her office.

Brennan shook her head as if to shake some of her thoughts away, "Go? Where are we going? Have we got a case already? Haven't you just got back?"

Booth helped Bones into her coat as she fired question after question at him. He shook his head in amusement. _God he had missed her_. "Bones, there is no case and I am not telling you any more. It's a surprise."

"Booth, you know I hate surprises," Brennan said, trying to maintain an annoyed demeanor, but failed, judging by Booth's grin. "Booth, I can't go. I am working on this paperwork and then I have to identify bones in Limbo."

Booth gently herded her out of her office and along the lab floor, "The bones can wait. It's New Years Eve Bones. I thought we would go somewhere and celebrate."

"Partaking in a ritual of drinking and kissing strangers at a certain time, does not endear me to celebrate." Brennan whirled on him, stalking back towards her office, "And furthermore, this is the perfect time to work." She stopped and looked at him. "It's quiet."

Booth slid in front of her and held her shoulders, "Bones. Please. I haven't seen you for 10 days. I would like to go and have a drink with you before someone rings with a case."

Brennan looked at Booth's face and found her resolve fading. Would it really hurt her to spend some time with Booth? She could forget all about the New Years Eve celebrations and just concentrate on it being a drink with her partner.

"Fine, Booth." She said whirling about again and taking off towards the sliding doors quicker than Booth could keep up. "But I am not kissing total strangers."

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"Well, Bones. Are you glad you came now?" Booth said, tapping the neck of his beer bottle to her wine glass. The lights were making her face glow and her eyes sparkle. It had a very heady effect, no alcohol needed.

Brennan looked around for the second time that day. It was so different to her earlier perusal.

Hodgins was paying for yet another round of drinks - having been beaten at Billiards again – Wendell crowing happily at their table. Remembering the looks earlier in the lab, she determined that they were to do with this game.

On the phone, yet again, was Cam. Booth had said this was a normal part of parenting a teenager – the constant worry and phone calls about where they are and what they are doing. She thought Cam was a very good parent – she did care for Michelle.

A smile came over her face watching Ange. She admired the two men – very good musculatory frame she noticed – that were listening to her. Sometimes she wished she were more like Ange. _Outgoing, funny, likeable._ Then she remembered that she had another best friend who liked her for her, faults and all.

The surprising part of the evening had been walking into the Founding Fathers establishment to find all of her 'family' there waiting for her. She had thought they were all eager to get to their parties, when in fact; they had been hurrying to get there before Booth showed up with her.

She turned back to Booth, who she found, had been watching her perusal.

"Bones, I'm sorry your dad and Russ couldn't be here." He had tried his hardest to make that happen for her.

"It's fine Booth, I had Dad for Christmas. It's Russ, Amy and the girls' turn for New Years." She was a little bit glad that her Dad had no more cause to introduce her to another one of her cousins. Margaret was better, after she informed her that Benjamin Franklin quotes were not considered conversation. They had a rather pleasant day with her the day before she went back to Minnesota.

Booth looked at his watch, "Well, Bones, almost 8pm. Not long now." He rubbed his hands together feeling like a kid at Christmas. He couldn't wait until 12o'clock. He would be able to give Bones a kiss and not have to have a reason beyond that of New Years.

She didn't need to know that he loved her. _Totally. Unconditionally._

BANG!

Booth drew his gun, spinning around in the direction of the sound. At the same time he moved his body so as to shield Bones. His mind registered another shot before he saw the gunman.

He felt Bones fall to the ground behind him, her hand wrapping around his leg. Booth fired twice, adrenaline and anger propelling the bullet, hopefully, into the gunman's chest.

Booth stepped forward towards the gunman and then all went black.........


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N - I apologize for the delay on posting this chapter, RL called for a while. This is a relatively short chapter - I promise the next one will make up for it! **

**I'm really enjoying this story and after seeing the 100th Episode I have an alternate ending in mind. **

**Big thank you to Jane for reading this over and to Kate for helping me with my writing and great beta'ing. **

**Hope you enjoy this chapter and I promise the next chapter won't take as long :)**

**Feel free to review - good or bad, I love them all!  
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The first thing Booth noticed was the peaceful quietness.

His eyes snapped open, taking in the sterile white walls, the beeping machines and the clatter of trolleys his ears had missed before.

He sat up slightly, his head pounding. Closing his eyes against the dizziness that came over him, he reached up to touch the bandage just above his right ear. His eyes opened to see a red stain on the blanket. He lifted it to reveal another bandage - this one wrapped around his lower ribs.

His head fell back onto the pillow, his body relaxing, while his mind raced.

_Flashbacks...screaming....shots fired...Bones falling....his gunshot..._

"Bones!"

He sat up fully this time and, quite unsteadily, leant over and started searching for his clothes in the bedside table, all the time his mind creating horror thoughts as to the condition of _his_ Bones.

"God damn it! Where are my clothes?!" he yelled, pulling open drawers but not finding what he was searching for.

Reaching for the nurse button he pushed it over and over, calling out, "Nurse. Nurse!"

A stern faced nurse entered his room, unhooked his chart and tsked at his impatience.

"What seems to be the trouble, Mr Booth?" She asked, glancing through his chart, waiting for his answer. Getting none she finally looked up.

Booth, using his best intimidating look on the nurse, barked, "I want to get dressed and go see how my partner is doing." He flung back his blankets and got up, intent on taking out the IV stuck in his hand.

The nurse's steely grip covered his hand. "Do not remove that Mr Booth, you still have to have some tests done before we can allow you to leave."

Booth's gaze went from his hand to the narrowed eyes of the Nurse. He saw movement near the door and whipped his head around to face his Doctor.

"I do not HAVE to have those tests, Doc. I know my rights." He shook the nurse's hand off and tried again to pull out the IV.

"Agent Booth! Do not touch that IV!" Booth looked up, startled to see Caroline standing in the doorway. She shook her head as she walked further into the room, waving papers in his direction. "This is your medical authorization form from the FBI, listing your brother as your next of kin to make decisions for you in case of an emergency such as this. As you know, Jared is in India and no one has been able to contact him. The FBI is making the decisions now cher."

"But I'm fine, Caroline, and since I am awake now that form is no longer necessary right?" Booth reached out to grab the side of the bed, steadying himself.

"Wrong, cher. Until you get these tests done, and have been declared fit, those forms stand because you may have suffered brain damage from your head wound, or internal bleeding from being shot."

Booth had seen that look on Caroline's face before and knew he had no chance of getting around it. Which didn't mean he had to like it.

He shuffled back to the bed and gingerly lay down once more, then pinned Caroline with his interrogation stare, "Well in that case, Caroline, why don't you go and check on Bones for me?" He countered, indicating towards the door as if to dismiss her.

"Dr. Brennan is being cared for by the finest doctors, cher, you just concentrate on you."

"Caroline, find out what happened to Bones or I won't care what forms you have got there, because, I will be out of here!" Booth's voice increased in volume until he was almost yelling at the end.

"Calm down, cher. Fine. Anyone would think she was more than your partner the way you are throwing your damn weight around. But, if you get out of that bed again cher, our deal is off."

Caroline turned to the doctor, "Now, tell me where I can find the genius one before this one pulls a muscle."

Booth watched the doctor and Caroline exit the room, stopping to talk on the other side of the glass window. It frustrated him immensely that he could not hear them.

He knew they were talking about his Bones and he yelled out to the Doctor, but she just glanced at him then went back to her conversation with Caroline.

By this time Booth was livid and he tried to get up again. Suddenly several nurses came into the room to hold him on the bed. Booth had no choice but to watch helplessly as a needle was inserted into his arm. As the fight left him he heard the Doctor speak from far away, "It's for the best. He is going to need all his strength over these next few weeks, possibly even months. If he knew that.."

He struggled to hear more but the darkness over took him.

................

The next time he awoke, he was prepared. Pressing the nurse call button, he told himself to keep calm as a different nurse answered his summons. Calmly he asked the nurse if Caroline was still in the waiting room. He was informed that Caroline had gone, however Cam was there. He told them to let her in, knowing Cam would give him the answers he sought.

"I'm sorry Seeley," Cam said a while later, a pitying look on her face as she gazed at the anxious man in the bed, looking nothing like the confident FBI Agent she knew, "We aren't allowed to give you any information about Dr. Brennan, even if they'd given us anything."

She reached over and placed a hand on his arm, waiting until he met her eyes before continuing, "There is a hospital policy that information can only be given to next of kin. Technically, since you were the shooting officer, you are under investigation by IA - routine for a death. You know it's best to not have knowledge of any victims so the IA can't accuse you of 'revenge killing'."

Booth felt the blood drain from his face. He felt woozy and his head grew heavy. A second later he was leaning over the side of the bed, emptying the contents of his stomach onto the floor.

Cam jumped back in surprise and yelled, "Nurse!" as she pushed Booth back onto the bed. The nurse came rushing in and looked at Cam for an explanation.

"He's just thrown up all over the floor and he doesn't seem to comprehend anything I am saying. I am telling him procedures he should know, but he is looking at me blankly. This is not normal and indicates to me something is wrong."

"He is scheduled to go in for a cat scan in a few minutes, we will know more after. He doesn't have a definitive diagnosis yet, tests are still being done. His partner told us about his brain tumor before she...uhm...well, we are fully aware of his medical history."

Booth just lay there, hearing the nurse's hesitation when she spoke of Bones and knew his worst fears had been realized.

At this moment he did not care whether he lived or died. He could not believe that_ his _Bones had become a victim. That her next of kin had been called - most likely Max. How devastated he must be feeling, having just found his daughter again only to have her ripped away like this.

His gaze fell upon the flowers decorating the nurse's station beyond the glass window of his room. _How can they be so beautiful and alive when his Bones....his Bones....._ He could not even say it in his head and his heart constricted painfully. He felt tingling up and down his arm, his chest tightening with every breath.

He heard some nurses come into the room followed by the doctor. Felt them prodding and poking at him while he just lay there, letting them do what they wanted. His eyes closed, pictures of Bones flooding his brain, causing a faint smile to play on his lips as he remembered their first meeting, the way she had challenged him and how her and the squints had managed to get past his defenses.

Absently he heard Cam leave. He could hear her voice, but her words were gibberish to him. That was ok, he did not need her now. He felt his head getting lighter.

"Doctor! He's not responding! Mr. Booth, if you can hear me squeeze my hand!"

Booth could hear the voices faintly, but had no intention of obeying. He never wanted to leave the place he was at. His Bones was right there next to him, laughing at him. In the next instance she smiled and held out her hand to him

"Code!"


End file.
